Kristian Fulton’s injury past could shake up Chiefs secondary

The Kansas City Chiefs quietly have one of the better cornerback rooms in the league. Dave Merritt has been one of the more impressive position coaches in the Andy Reid era. And this offseason, his cornerback room was further strengthened with the addition of Kristian Fulton.

Fulton played last season with the Los Angeles Chargers after his first four NFL seasons came with the Tennessee Titans. He has been a fine complementary piece to other top players in certain secondaries. But on the boundary, Fulton has been someone who does not often get enough credit for his coverage skills.

Overall, this is a perfect defensive system for a player like Fulton to join into. The key for this cornerback will be his availability, however. Fulton has never played in every game for a full regular season. If that happens again, the snap counts, usage, and level of play could alter for the Chiefs' secondary in 2025.

Fulton's injury history is largely the same

If you look at the full injury history for Kristian Fulton since he entered the NFL, it has been all lower-body ailments that have hindered him. He has had a fair amount of hamstring issues. Fulton has also been prone to knee injuries, to boot. Beyond that, there was a groin injury that kept him out for part of one season as well.

With those types of injuries in mind, the Chiefs will hope that he can make it to the regular season as fresh as possible. Training camp will be a test for Fulton. That is especially true, given how strenuous the Andy Reid training camps have been described as.

Fulton's game logs by season

In total, Kristian Fulton appeared in 15 games last year with the Chargers. That was a career high for a single season. The most amount of games he played in while with the Titans was 13, which came in 2021. He appeared in just a mere six games back in his rookie year during the 2020 NFL season. Finally, Fulton tallied a combined 23 games in his final pair of seasons with Tennessee.

How a Fulton injury could impact Chiefs cornerbacks in 2025

Kristian Fulton will present some risk for Kansas City at the outside cornerback spot in 2025. If he does end up missing time again during this upcoming campaign, the Chiefs will have a mix of younger players and veterans to choose from.

To fill that role on the outside, rookie Nohl Williams would be the youngest option to turn to. How quickly he can get comfortable in Steve Spagnuolo's defense will determine if he can immediately be the next man up.

Meanwhile, both Nazeeh Johnson and Joshua Williams are fighting for roles on the outside yet again. Williams has been more of a special teams ace in the last couple of years. As for Johnson, he got some defensive opportunities last year. He was burned a fair amount, especially in big games. With Jaylen Watson likely manning the other outside spot, the talent drop off becomes noticeable if Fulton were to go down.